The Winds of Winter (SPOILERS BECAUSE DUH!!!!!)
Lord Commander Jon Snow's body is soon discovered by the recently demoralized Davos Seaworth and he is quickly brought to some place safe and barricaded before the mutineers of the Night's Watch can burn his body. The Wildlings and a few loyal Night's Watch brothers manage to overpower the killers of their Lord Commander and defend both Davos and Melisandre from their wrath. Despite her crisis of faith following Stannis's utter annihilation at the hands of the Boltons, Melisandre attempts to resurrect Jon and succeeds in restoring him to life thanks to the healing powers of The Lord of Light. Jon chooses to hang the men who betrayed him and uses his death as an excuse to leave The Night's Watch and head South.
Sansa and Theon Greyjoy continue to flee from their pursuing Bolton captors, but Ramsay's hunters manage to capture the two. But the group is beset upon by Brienne of Tarth and the squire Podrick, who kill all of the Bolton men and offer their services to Sansa to protect her until they are no longer needed. Sansa thankfully agrees, but Theon leaves to go and set things right with his family on the Iron Islands. Brienne ultimately brings Sansa to Castle Black in time to convince Jon not to abandon the family and stay under his protection. The two siblings, though never close, attempt to patch things up and prepare for a stand against Ramsay and retake their home of Winterfell.
Theon returns to the Iron Islands only to find that his father, King Balon Greyjoy, was murdered and that a Kingsmoot has been called for the Ironborn to declare someone their next King. Despite mistrusting her brother's sudden return, Yara is touched that Theon vouches for her as their Queen and nominates her. But Yara is ultimately defeated by their mad uncle, Euron Greyjoy, who reveals his intent to build the largest fleet in the history of the world and sail to Daenerys Targaryen to entice her to invade Westeros as his Queen. Yara and Theon take a few loyal men and flee the Islands to warn Daenerys.
In King's Landing, Cersei has her hands tied by the Faith Militant and the Small Council both deeply mistrusting her and her son being made a pawn of both sides. Though the Faith plots to have Cersei tried for the crimes of incest, sex out of marriage and the murder of King Robert, Cersei insists she will choose violence and have a Trial by Combat with The Mountain fighting for her. She also manages to convince the Small Council to fight the Faith before they make Queen Margaery make the same walk that Cersei took, but the High Sparrow ultimately tricks them by revealing that Tommen has become his faithful stooge and intends to unite the Crown and the Faith. Jaime is ultimately sent away from King's Landing to go and aid in House Frey's retaking of the Tully Castle of Riverrun from The Blackfish.
Daenerys is taken before the new leader of the Dothraki and is intended to be made a slave, but is later banished to a crone cabin where former Khaleesis are kept after their husbands die. Daenerys refuses to remain a part of this and, with the unexpected support of Daario Nahaaris and Ser Jorah, manages to burn the entire gathering of the Khals of the Dothraki Sea and survives the inferno. With the Khals dead and Daenerys having survived, the Dothraki name her their Khaleesi and Daenerys adds at least 100,000 Dothraki to her numbers and prepares to return to Meereen to confront the crisis of The Sons of the Harpy and regain control of her city. Jorah departs from her service temporarily to find a cure for the Grayscale disease that is killing his body, though he professes his undying love and loyalty to his queen.
Samwell Tarly continues to head further south to Oldtown to replace Maester Aemon Targaryen as the Maester of Castle Black. While on his way, he hopes to leave Gilly and her son (posing as his bastard son and his lover) at his family home in Horn Hill. This manages to work until his deeply bigoted father discovers that not only is his son headed to Oldtown to become a Maester (as he believed Tarlys were born warriors first) but that his apparent bastard grandson was a Wildling and he demands his son break off all contact with him. Sam refuses to leave Gilly in the same nightmare he was in as a child and leaves, but not before stealing the family's sword and continuing his journey south.
While hiding out at Castle Black, Jon receives a letter from Ramsay Bolton demanding that he surrender Sansa to him, informing Jon that he has killed his father Roose Bolton, claimed the lordship over the North and has also captured his and Sansa's little brother Rickon. Jon and Sansa argue over what to do, but Jon is ultimately coerced into heading South with an army of Wildlings to fight the Boltons and reclaim the North. At the suggestion of Davos, Jon and Sansa try to coerce other Northern Lords to join their cause, but only manage to sway the loud-mouthed yet passionate Lyanna Mormont to loaning them whatever men lived on Bear Island at the time, while the Umbers and Karstarks pledged loyalty to Ramsay and the other Houses chose neutrality. Sansa is contacted by Littlefinger and is informed that he has brought The Knights of the Vale to support Sansa if needed and also encourages her to take Winterfell back in her own name, fearing that Jon would overshadow her. Sansa declines, but uses Littlefinger's advice to recruit the Tully Army at Riverrun to their cause and sends Brienne south to the siege of Riverrun.
In Meereen, Tyrion struggles to govern the city in Daenerys's name. He attempts to bring Westerosi style politics to the Slavers Bay and seems to broker a peace between Meereen and the nearby kingdoms of Yunkai and Astapor, who have rebelled since the rise of The Son's of the Harpy. Tyrion's success is ultimately short-lived as the the Slavers double cross Tyrion and invade Meereen with the hopes of destroying Dany's reign and bringing an end to the Dragon Queen. Daenerys returns to Meereen in time for the battle to begin and she unleashes her wrath upon the Slavers, who are utterly annihilated by Daenerys and her dragons while Greyworm kills two of the Slavers themselves. With the armies of her enemies crushed, Daenerys finally begins to set her sights on Westeros once more, but knows she has some final pieces to set up.
In Braavos, Arya continues her training at the hands of The Faceless Men, with even her eyesight being restored to her. Though she continues to struggle between deciding between choosing the life of an assassin while giving up her life as a Stark, Arya continues to defy the will of her mentors. When the Faceless Men send an assassin to murder Arya, she manages to turn the tables against her assassin and succeeds in murdering the assassin and solidifying her rank as a Faceless Man. However, Arya rejects the offer to become a full fledged member and instead keeps her name and uses her new skills to leave Braavos and return to Westeros.
At the Siege of Riverrun, Jaime and Brienne reunite with Brienne asking if she could go into Riverrun to convince the Blackfish to abandons the siege and take his armies to the North to fight the Boltons. Jaime allows this, but insists that if she fails he has to storm the castle and kill the Tully men. Jaime also interrogates Catelyn Stark's brother Edmure and threatens to murder his wife and newborn son if he doesn't aid in his attempt to take Riverrun from his uncle. Brienne ultimately fails to convince The Blackfish to fight for his great niece (as he neither has the men nor the gumption to head north) and dies fighting the Lannister Men after Edmure agrees to aid in the surrender of the castle to the Freys. Brienne and Podrick return North feeling dejected. Jaime is welcomed to celebrate their victory at The Twins in the Riverlands, but he departs quickly after it begins. While at the Twins, Walder Frey and his two most trusted sons are murdered by Arya for revenge over The Red Wedding.
After being nursed back to health by a former knight who has found religion, The Hound has come to find himself attached to the new village he has come to live in. Despite this, several shady members of The Brotherhood Without Banners slaughter his village, prompting the Hound to go on a murder spree, which brings him back into contact with the leaders if the Brotherhood, including Beric Dondarrion and Thoros of Myr. After hanging the murderers, the Brotherhood convinces The Hound go join forces with them and head North for the "real battles" to come.
Jon and Sansa hold a parlay with Ramsay before battle and Jon offers to fight Ramsay in a single combat setting, but Ramsay rejects this by citing his vast numbers in comparisons to Jon's meager numbers. Despite a failure to reach a settlement, Sansa tells Ramsay he would die the following day and the talks end. When Jon refuses to listen to Sansa's warnings regarding Ramsay, Sansa secretly dispatches a message to Littlefinger for his aid. The Battle of the Bastards takes place outside the walls of Winterfell. Ramsay tricks Jon into riding out to rescue his brother who is set free to run to his side, but Ramsay puts an arrow through the boys chest and kills him. Jon leads his men angrily into battle, but the Bolton's employ shrewd tactics to pin Jon's ragtag army and prevent a retreat. But the Knights of the Vale arrive in time to scatter Ramsay's army and force him to retreat back into Winterfell. Jon pursues with his supporters and pummels Ramsay until he sees how he was acting in front of his sister. Jon has Rickon buried alongside the remains of their father Ned, while Sansa feeds Ramsay to his own dogs after he had boasted about not feeding them for several days in preparation for the battle. House Bolton is extinct.
Far beyond the Wall, Bran Stark continues his training with the Three Eyed Raven, who tries to implore upon Bran all that he would need to know to prevent the rise of the White Walkers and their numbers beyond the Wall. He learns about the original pact between the Children of the Forest and the First Men, which accidentally resulted in the birthing of the first White Walker (known as the Night King), as well as uncovering a few hidden truths about his own family's history, including how his father was dispatched as a boy to the Eyrie to be fostered alongside Robert Baratheon and how his father and Meera's father had joined forces to defeat the great Ser Arthur Dayne during the waning days of Robert's Rebellion. One day, while attempting to go off on his own, Bran is found and marked by The Night King, who sends his army of wights after him. His Direwolf Summer, the Three Eyed Raven and even the lovable Hodor give up their lives to protect Bran and Meera as they escape south, but the wights manage to catch up with them, until the duo are saved by a half-dead Benjen Stark, who agrees to help guide them as far south as he can go.
As Cersei's trial comes to pass, she enacts a plot to dispatch of all of her enemies in one fell swoop. Using her new ally in Qyburn and his connections to the pyromancers that had once served The Mad King, Cersei manages to set up nearly the entire city's stocks of Wildfyre beneath the Sept of Baelor and has an unintentionally led astray Lancel Lannister light it. Cersei's coup is remarkably successful, as her traitorous family members, Grand Maester Pycelle, The High Sparrow, and all of House Tyrell apart from Lady Olenna are utterly obliterated when the Sept of Baelor explodes, including her son's wife Margaery. Unable to bear the loss of his beloved wife, Tommen commits suicide, rendering Cersei a mother with no children. With House Baratheon extinct (Robert, Joffrey, Tommen, Myrcella, Stannis, Shireen and Renly all dead), Cersei claims the throne as the first Queen of the Lannister Dynasty, though half of King's Landing remains in ruins for her to rule, with a country on the verge of complete chaos.
Daenerys asks Daario to remain behind in Meereen and govern for her as she intends to marry a Westerosi Nobleman. She further forges an alliance with Yara and Theon upon their arrival in Meereen, sends Varys to Dorne to recruit the rebellious Sand Snakes and Olenna Tyrell to their cause and names Tyrion Lannister as the Hand of the Queen before setting sail with her immense army and dragons, intent on conquering Westeros and restoring the Targaryen Dynasty to full power.
After retaking Winterfell, Jon Snow manages to compel the Wildlings and Northern/Vale Lords to work together to fight the common enemy of all mankind: the White Walkers. During a moment of silence, Lyanna Mormont rises and declares Jon as the heir to Robb Stark and the King of the North, to which all present but Littlefinger cheer for. After a moment of reconciliation between Jon and Sansa, where Sansa affirms that Jon is a Stark despite his bastard ranking at birth, she informs her brother that Winter has finally come to Westeros.
Now the Three Eyed Raven on his own, Bran attempts to uncover the truth about his father's venture to the Tower of Joy where he bested Arthur Dayne in combat. He follows the memory to find his father sadly grieving over the dying body of his sister, Lyanna Stark, whom the entire rebellion that dethroned the Targaryens and brought Robert Baratheon's rise to power had been about. Lyanna asks her brother to protect "him" from the wrath of Robert, revealing that she has indeed had a child by Prince Rhaegar Targaryen before she would die. Ned, unable to deny his sister this dying wish, agrees and shields the boy, raising him up as his own bastard son and naming him: Jon Snow.
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